Highway Man: 3rd person story, with a grunge, fantasy feel:
Shady Burrow : Suspense story about a stranger in a small town.
Same Three:

Shady Burrow

The next Friday there was a PTA meeting and Megan was asked to look after several of the children. They were staying at the Ortan’s this evening, the home of little Samantha Ortan. Megan was running late and Patty, Sam’s mom, had stayed to wait for her. After apologizing and seeing Patty off, Megan made her way to the living room to where the children were playing. Johnny, Denver, and Elton were playing an imaginary game that Megan could only guess at, while Amy, Sam, and Jeannie were fawning on a tiny pink baby doll.

“Hello everyone.” Megan said as she entered the room.
“Megan!” The children charged her clinging to her thighs, except for Denver who was tall enough to hug her around the waist.

She talked with them for a little while, and asked what they wanted for dinner. They decided on hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

The children went back to their games and Megan took a seat on the couch. She had brought a book to read and pulled it out of her worn pink Care Bears backpack to do so.

She had dosed so quickly that she couldn’t even remember what she had read. She remembered the dream though. For as long as she lived she would remember that horrible vision.

She was tied to a stake like the witch trials of the dark ages, except there would be no fire. She wasn’t on trial, she was being sacrificed. There were people around her, more than she could count in her delirium, but not too many to be counted. Upfront there were children, some maybe twelve or so but others were just toddlers. Behind them were teenagers, and behind them the adults.

They were chanting a hymn of some kind in a language she could not even guess at. Their voices bounced off of the dirt stained walls and echoed throughout the boundless tar-black ceiling.

There was a screeching suddenly and she jerked her head around to find its source. The hymn stopped and only the scraping broke the deafening silence.

There was movement above her though it was abstract and unrealistic. The shadows twisted and waned, slowly taking on some kind of solid form. She couldn’t see whatever was coming for her. She could only see two searing green orbs steadily moving closer…

She started awake screaming. The children stood unmoving in a semicircle around the couch.

                                      …

Over the next few weeks Megan began feeling as though things were getting back to normal. She had not had the dream again for nearly five days, and for that she was truly thankful. The last recurrence had the people singing in one long high pitched note, while the utterly atrocious darkness moved ever closer.

Her flesh prickled at the just at the thought of the nightmare.

It was Sunday and she was free for the day. She was feeling really well as the last five nights had been her best sleep in nearly a month. She decided to go for a jog; she hadn’t done so in quite a while.

The town was quiet and not in its usual sort of way, something was wrong. The uniform off-white houses silent and seemingly abandoned as she passed. Megan came upon Mr. and Mrs. Simms with Johnny plodding along slowly behind them.

“Hello,” Megan slowed her pace and stopped to talk. “How are you all today?”

“Not too bad I suppose.” Said Mr. Simms, though his tone implied other wise.
“Oh.” Megan suddenly felt very awkward. She looked away to avoid eye contact.

“Don’t worry Megan it’s not you. Johnny let Jimmy out last night and, well you know, he’s a house cat. He can’t take care of himself.” Mrs. Simms spoke up quickly, covering for her husband.

“All right then, I’m sorry to hear that, I hope you can find him.” She ruffled Johnny’s hair before she continued on, but she felt a pang in her stomach when the little boy didn’t even take notice of her presence.

As they walked on she stood there dumbfounded. Come to think of it Johnny had been acting odd lately; actually all of the children had been acting peculiar. She was tired of walking and chose to go home. She tried to push her worry away as she made the trip, which wasn’t too difficult as shortly after she started moving again she kept starting at something in the corner of her vision, but every time she looked there was nothing to be seen.

                                        …

Over the next few days Megan heard about several other pets getting lost. Amy’s cat Oscar, Sam’s dog Butch, and even Elton’s old dog Wink, had all ran off. It made Megan very anxious, it was like the way animals evacuate an area before a huge storm or earthquake. Was some kind of disaster building?

She had been talking with some of the other girls watching the kids, and they were noticing a difference also. Most terrifying of all was that when asked about the stranger all of them had seen him, even as recently as a few days ago.